In late June, the MFA Boston will share the Garden for Boston project, two outdoor installations on the green spaces of the Museum’s main entrance by Roxbury-based artist Ekua Holmes and Aquinnah Wampanoag artist Elizabeth James-Perry. Holmes will plant 3000 sunflowers in raised beds in Radiant Community, related to Sunflower Project, her ongoing initiative to beautify the city and particularly Roxbury. In Raven Reshapes Boston, James-Perry will use Indigenous planting techniques to transform the grass around the Cyrus Dallin sculpture, which represents an invented Native man, into a field of corn and other plants surrounded by shells. We hope that their installations will be the first two of many to intervene in the Museum’s facade.
In anticipation of this exciting project, Marina Tyquiengco and Martina Tanga have organized a series of three Zoom culminating in a conversation between the artists on June 22. This series will recognize Boston as a place of Native and Black histories and lived experiences through the expertise of artists, scholars, and thought leaders. Below is a list of the titles, times, and speakers in each program and a link to sign up.
Before Boston: Black and Native Histories of Place
May 18 @ 5:30 pm
zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_uXsQ1r1ORHGse2enD1EIlA
With Elizabeth Solomon, Dr. Jean O’Brien, and Dr. Kerri Greenidge
Community Crossroads: Black and Native Experiences in Boston
June 1 @ 5pm
zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_FP5wI0sLS6m8HJYHAvlzRA
With Dr. Tiffany Lethabo King, Professor Mwalim Peters, and Mary McNeil
Planting Together: Conversation with Ekua Holmes and Elizabeth James Perry
June 22 @ 5-6pm
ACRAH 